Wednesday, 29 August 2012

Tofu-bacon and spinach muffins

After making vegan cheddar cheese, I wanted to try baking with it. When Sylvia started up a request for tofu bacon I liked the idea of making muffins with both home made vegan cheese and bacon. These Bacon and Spinach Muffins were fantastic. Vegetarian. Dairy-free. Easy to adapt to Vegan. Chunky. Even rustic. Not overly cheesy but full of flavour.

I think I would be right in guessing these are far less fatty than regular bacon and cheese muffins. Both the vegan bacon and vegan cheese don't ooze oil the way their omnivore counterparts do. So possibly the texture of these would be slightly richer if I had followed the recipe more religiously. I also decided to fry my onion and bacon separately because I have tried it together and it isn't great.

We ate the muffins with some pumpkin and lentil soup (a bit like this one). It was fantastic. Not quite as early as I would have liked. I guess I did ok, given that I only started pressing the tofu at 5pm (and we ate at 7.30pm). Ideally the pressing and marinating of the tofu bacon should take hours but I take shortcuts here.

As an aside I wanted to include some random reflections.

I am really enjoying watching Puberty Blues. I think I read the book but can't quite remember. It was seen as x-rated when I was at school. The tv show brings back memories. I remember the Big M girls (I had a Big M beach bag), watching Storm Boy at the cinema (a friend of a friend had seen Greg Rowe somewhere and said he was really stuck up) and slang like 'dobbing', 'root' and 'mole' being in common parlance in my school playground (more that I would have liked).

Today we went into a fruit and veg shop where I apologised for Sylvia sampling the grapes. I offered money. Instead the "payer", as Sylvia likes to call the cashier, very kindly gave her a small bunch of grapes and waved away my offers to pay.

Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F). Grease a 12 hole muffin tin. (I also cut little rounds out of baking paper to line the bottom of each muffin hole because my muffins usually either stick to the bottom if I don't use muffin papers or they stick to the muffin papers - this was a great compromise.)

Fry onion in 1 tsp olive oil (or more) for about 10 minutes until golden brown and cooked. Fry the tofu bacon in remaining oil (I used 1 tsp and then added more oil while it was frying) until crispy and brown. Remove from heat. Add spinach and cheese. (They don't need to wilt/melt, they are just then easy to add together.)

Meanwhile mix flour, egg, milk, and oil to make a stiff batter. Gently stir in tofu and onion mixture. Spoon into prepared muffin tins. Mine were really full but they don't rise too much. Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden brown and a skewer comes out cleanly when inserted in a muffin. (I did 30 minutes.)

17 comments:

Nice. I've been looking for more recipes using tofu bacon. It's funny how the longer I'm veg the more I start getting into meat subbing. I remember slang like 'dobbing' and other stuff from watching "Home and Away' and 'Neighbours' for years as a kid. When did they stop? Brings back memories.. Good one on the grapes btw - you should give her your list next time and see how much she can get given off it as she samples her way through the shop : )

Thanks Adam - I find that tofu bacon goes well in lots of recipes - one of my favourite ways is fried rice. I think I enjoy using meat substitutions more that more that I am comfortable with how I make them.

Funny that our soaps have given the world some of our slang - though I suspect that mole and root might now have made it into family viewing :-)

That's a cunning plan our yours with the grapes - but I wouldn't give sylvia any encouragement - it is amazing how much people give her because she is cute!

This blog is wonderful. It gives you everything...great tasting inovative vegan tucker, links to past great tasting vegan tucker, and a tasty little sippet of old school vinyl to round it all off. I love this blog! Now that I have found it I am going to spend precious time trawling through the archives to stuff my already overstuffed recipe folder like a Tasmanian scallop fisherman dredging the seabed of every precious mollusc (although the only scallops on Serendipity Farm are of the potato kind ;)).

It's a pleasure discovering your blog - I've never cooked or baked anything with tofu bacon before, but I'm intrigued, especially with the combination of spinach in muffins. It sounds like a tasty, healthful side or snack... Thanks so much for sharing with Made with Love Mondays and welcome to the series!

I have never made savoury muffins and I think one day I am going to have to rectify that. These would be a good starting point!

I loved that tale of Sylvia receiving free grapes but am sad to say I haven't been able to get into Puberty Blues - I had such high hopes for it (I never read the book but it was X rated in my school years too and I've always been intrigued!) but we didn't get past the first episode. Maybe I'll dip into it again.

Thanks Kari - you definitely need to make savoury muffins - I love them for breakfast or to take to work or picnics. That's interesting you didn't get into Puberty Blues - maybe it doesn't spark the memories for you like it does me!

These muffins sound great! I love savoury muffins so much more than sweet ones but I never make them as no-one else at home appreciates them.

Puberty Blues is bringing back lots of memories for me too! I never read the book or saw the movie but I do recall hearing whispers about it when I was growing up. I love Storm Boy too, we re-watched it with the young man years ago, it's such a great movie.

Thanks Lorraine - it is the first time I have used either tofu bacon or vegan cheese in baking! The bacon was great but I didn't feel I could taste the cheese really strongly - though I suspect it added to the taste of the muffins (I was worried they weren't seasoned enough when hot but they were great when cold)

I love how you substituted both bacon and cheese in these! And personally, I'd be very content if most of the world switched to vegetarianism...then I wouldn't have to ever worry about there being no vegetarian options at restaurants ever again!

Great combination of flavors here--these are the kind of savory muffins I'm sure I'd love. And what a heartwarming anecdote about the cashier giving Sylvia the grapes--restores one's faith in humankind a little bit!

Thanks for dropping by. I love hearing from you. Please share your thoughts and questions. Annoyingly the spammers are bombarding me so I have turned on the pesky captcha code (refresh to find an easy one if you don't like the first one)

Search this Blog

About Me

Recipes and reflections in which our vegetarian heroine dreams of being tall and graceful as a giraffe; being a goddess in the kitchen; and being gladdened by green gadgets, green food and green politics because green is the colour of hope. See About Me for more info.